Bible manuscript evidence

From Conservapedia

According to Josh McDowell in More Than a Carpenter (1977), the Bible, and particularly the New Testament, are the best-evidenced documents by manuscript evidence in antiquity. According to McDowell,

“

"When it comes to the manuscript authority of the New Testament, the abundance of material is almost embarrassing in contrast. After the early papyri manuscript discoveries that bridged the gap between the times of Christ and the second century, an abundance of other MSS came to light. Over 20,000 copies of New Testament manuscripts are in existence today. The Iliad has 643 MSS and is second in manuscript authority after the New Testament."[1]

Dead Sea Scrolls

In 1947, in the midst of the War for the Independence of the Republic of Israel, came the discovery, at Qumran, of the first 7 Dead Sea scrolls by a Bedouin shepherd boy looking for his straying goat.[20] Bedouin of the Ta'amra tribe discovered 7 scrolls in a cave now named "Cave 1" Khirbet Qumran on the Northwest shore of the Dead Sea. Three of these scrolls were then purchased by archaeologist Eliezer Lipa Sukenik for the Hebrew University and others were bought by Mar Athanasius Samuel for the Metropolitan of the Syrian Orthodox Church in Jerusalem. From 1949-1954, additional fragments of more than 950 different scrolls were found in 10 nearby caves by Bedouins and a joint archaeological expedition led by Professor Father Roland de Vaux for the École Biblique et Archéologique Française and the Rockefeller Museum.[21]

The discovery of the Dead Sea Scrolls, most of which dated from 200 B.C. to 68 A.D., drastically increased our assurance that the Old Testament we have today has been faithfully transmitted through the centuries.[22] Some even date to 300 B.C. or older[23], like the Great Isaiah Scroll which was carbon-dated as old as 335 B.C.[5][24] These scrolls have largely backed up the Masoretic Text, with rare exception.

The most manuscript fragments were found in Cave 4, over 15,000. The final cave, Cave 11, was discovered in 1956. The first 7 scrolls remain in the property of the Israel Museum, while most of the fragments are owned by the Israel Antiquities Authority (IAA).[25] There were actually five sites in all discovered contributing Dead Sea Scrolls. The first, at Qumran, consisted of 11 caves with over 15,000 fragments (according to the Dead Sea Scrolls Foundation there are over 100,000 fragments[21] from 800 or 900 original manuscripts, typically dating from the 3rd to 1st centuries B.C. The second site, Wadi Al-Murabba'at - 11 miles south of Qumran, contained documents from army fugitives in the Second Jewish Revolt against Rome (A.D. 132-135) and included a well-preserved scroll of the Minor Prophets. The third site south of 'En Gedi included a Greek translation of the Minor Prophets from the 1st Century A.D. and some Biblical fragments. The fourth site, 8.5 miles north of Jericho, contained legal documents from Samarians massacred by soldiers of Alexander the Great in 331 B.C. The fifth site at Masada contained a copy of Ecclesiastes (75 B.C.) and fragments of Genesis, Leviticus, and Psalms.[26]

New Testament

There are 127 papyri,[27] 318 and 2882 Majuscule and Miniscule MSS, and 2436 Lectionary MSS that make up the at least 5,762 manuscripts of the Greek New Testament (current as of 2008).[28][29] There are at least 24,000 manuscripts for the New Testament in all, including at least 8,000 in the Latin Vulgate and 1,000 in Syrian, Coptic, Armenian, Gothic, and Ethiopic,[30] with 99.5% internal consistency.[31][22] More manuscripts are being discovered and translated all the time.[32]

List of New Testament codexes

The following are largely complete New Testament documents, as opposed to papyri which tend to be fragmentary, prior to 500 A.D.

↑ Bruce Metzger and Bart Ehrman, The Text of the New Testament: Its Transmission, Corruption and Restoration (Oxford University Press, Fourth Edition 2005), pg. 50

↑ J. David Thomas. "P.Oxy. LXIV 4404." POxy Papyrus Web. The Center for Study of Ancient Documents. Stelios Ioannou School for Research in Classical and Byzantine Studies, Oxford.The Center for the Study of New Testament Manuscripts. "Manuscript P104."

↑ J. David Thomas. "P.Oxy. LXIV 4403." POxy Papyrus Web. The Center for Study of Ancient Documents. Stelios Ioannou School for Research in Classical and Byzantine Studies, Oxford.The Center for the Study of New Testament Manuscripts. "Manuscript P103."

↑ J. David Thomas. "P.Oxy. LXIV 4401." POxy Papyrus Web. The Center for Study of Ancient Documents. Stelios Ioannou School for Research in Classical and Byzantine Studies, Oxford.The Center for the Study of New Testament Manuscripts. "Manuscript P101."

↑ J. David Thomas. "P.Oxy. LXIV 4402." POxy Papyrus Web. The Center for Study of Ancient Documents. Stelios Ioannou School for Research in Classical and Byzantine Studies, Oxford.The Center for the Study of New Testament Manuscripts. "Manuscript P102."